French Women Don’t Sleep Alone: a Book Reading & Signing with Jamie Cat Callan

Relationship and Romance Expert Signs Copies of Her Forthcoming Book
Middletown, Conn, February 26, 2009—Author Jamie Cat Callan hosts a delicious evening at Wesleyan’s Green Street Arts Center in which she will take us on a personalized, guided tour through the corridors of French love. Callan’s French Women Don't Sleep Alone: Pleasurable Secrets to Finding Love is a feel-good book about relationships that will dramatically change women’s approach to men and dating. Discover the secrets to: why French women always feel sexy; the French art of flirtation; why French women walk everywhere and love to be seen; where French women meet men; what French women do when their man misbehaves.

Callan’s appearance takes place at the Green Street Arts Center on Thursday, March 5 from 7–9pm. Admission is $5 for the general public and $3 for Green Street members. Broad Street books will have books available for purchase. The Green Street Arts Center is located at 51 Green Street, Middletown, CT. To make reservations or get more information, please visit: www.greenstreetartscenter.org or call (860) 685-7871.

“Adorable!”—Erica Jong, New York Times bestselling author of Fear of Flying and Fear of Fifty on French Women Don’t Sleep Alone

Jamie Cat Callan grew up under the tutelage of her French grandmother who taught her the secrets to how French women find and keep love. Jamie has traveled to France many times and interviewed hundreds of French women—and more than a few men. Jamie is the creator of The Writers Toolbox and the author of Hooking Up or Holding Out. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times Modern Love column, Best American Erotica, The Missouri Review, and many other places. Jamie lives in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, with her husband.

For more information on Jamie Cat Callan, visit http://www.jamiecatcallan.com/

CPAC Support and Training for Educators and Parents

CT Parent Advocacy Coalition is hosting a
Support and Training for Educators and Parents

Next STEPS is a free training series that prepares parents and
educators of children with special needs to enable them to advocate
more effectively for appropriate educational services for their
children. This training will provide you with information on:

Special Education Laws
Planning an Appropriate Educational Program
The Parent’s Role in Educating Children with Disabilities

Space is limited and registration is required!
Please call CPAC at 1-800-445-2722 or E-mail cpac@cpacinc.org to sign up!

March 24th, 31st, April 7th and 21st
From 6 p.m. until 9 p.m.
At the Middletown YMCA
99 Union Street, Middletown, CT 06457

---------------------------------------------------------
Connecticut Parent Advocacy Center
338 Main Street, Niantic, CT 06357 • (800) 445-2722 • (860) 739-3089
www.cpacinc.org • E-mail: cpac@cpacinc.org
New Haven Satellite Office (203) 776-3211

Block By Block Committee Surveys

NEAT's Block By Block Committee is sponsoring a neighborhood wide survey to find out what is happening on your block and what concerns you. NEAT is nothing without the residents of the North End. You are the only ones who can make change happen and give NEAT the input we need to better focus our efforts. Please stop by the NEAT office at 668 Main St, call us at 346-4845, or email us at neatmiddletown@gmail.com to fill out our survey and let us know what you'd like to see happen in the North End.

Meet & Greet With NEAT- Focus on Schools

NEAT will host a community conversation at Wharfside Commons Wednesday Feb 26 from 6-7:30pm. We will focus on the elementary school experience for North End families and the upcoming City sponsored Feasibility Study, a study about school redistricting options in Middletown. This is just the beginning stages of a long term process so it is critical that the neighborhood be part of this study and that our input is heard. Please come tell us about your elementary school experience and what changing schools would might mean for you.
If you have any questions or comments about the study, please call the NEAT office at 346-4845 or email alicia.mcavay@neatmiddletown.org

North End Youth Dance performs at Wesleyan

Saturday February 21st

North End's own Thoro Energy will be performing in Wesleyan's annual Jubilee.
This show is put on by the Student group Ujamaa every year to promote cultural awareness and show off the diverse talents of the performers.

The show is in the Center for the Arts' Crowell performance space from 8-10pm

tickets show be purchased in advance and cost $6

Please come to the show and support our youth.

Holiday Mentoring Party!

In December, the NEAT mentoring program had a very successful and fun holiday party! We made cards and greenery decorations. Thank you to everyone who came!

Mentoring Going Great

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Free Foreclosure Prevention Workshop

Struggling Homeowners Invited to Free Foreclosure-Prevention Workshop in Hartford, Connecticut, on Feb. 14, 2009

WHAT:

Concerned borrowers can meet face-to-face with their lender or loan servicer, and housing counselors, to begin to clarify and take steps to improve their current situation. All are welcome. This event is FREE.

WHERE:
Connecticut Convention Center
100 Columbus Boulevard, Hartford, Connecticut

WHEN:
Saturday, February 14, 2009
10 AM to 4 PM

The event brings together distressed borrowers and mortgage loan servicers for one-on-one conversations about resolving difficult loan situations and avoiding foreclosure.

Borrowers should bring documentation for their income, expenses, debts, and mortgage to the workshop so they are fully prepared to talk with their lender or servicer and housing counselors.

For more information, borrowers are invited to call the event hotline, 1-800-882-1600. Borrowers who call this number can leave their name, questions about the event, and a callback number. Information is also available on a Federal Reserve Bank web site, www.theinformedhomebuyer.org. Directions to the Connecticut Convention Center are available on the 800 number and the web site.

Capitol Prep Open House

Saturday, Feb. 7th from 12-2 pm, The Capitol Prepatory Magnet School in Hartford will be hosting an open house at Oddfellows Playhouse (128 Washington St.). If you are a high school aged student or a parent, please stop by to learn more about this great school.

The Capital Preparatory Magnet High School is a year round college preparatory school with a social justice theme. Throughout its curriculum, Capital Preparatory engages students in exploring issues of equality, democracy, economic opportunity, intellectual freedoms, environmental protection and human rights.

Macdonough Success Story

The Macdonough Elementary School, which serves the North End of Middletown and is the last neighborhood school and only downtown public school,has been honored by ConnCan, a statewide education organization, as one of a handful of "Success Stories" in the state. This is quite an honor for the school and speaks to the tremendous gains that have been made in student achievement and community collaboration over the last few years.

ConnCan produced this great video about the school. It's really inspirational and quite amazing to hear the teachers and parents talk about the school's importance.

Pre-School Openings

Good news if you are a four year old!

The Middletown Public Schools currently has openings for children who are four years old in their preschool program.
The program meets the rigorous staffing and academic standards set forth by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Please contact Mary Monarca at 638-1428 for an application.

Saucy Stories: The Art of Desire

SAUCY STORIES: The Art of Desire with Jamie Cat Callan
SATURDAY, February 7, 1–4 pm
Tuition: $70 ($60 members)

Writing a sexy story is a lot like a strip tease. You have
to slowly undress the narrative, take your time, add all the details, use your
senses, let the narrative flow into a strong dramatic arc and push the plot to finish
with a strong climactic moment that reverberates in the reader’s mind and
heart. This one-day course is tailor-made for beginning as well as advanced
writers who want to explore a variety of techniques for writing erotic fiction.
Participants engage in a series of writing exercises that open up sensory and
emotional awareness to create prose that is borne from a deeper place within
them. Stories are discussed in a supportive, nurturing environment that serves
to encourage, as well as familiarize the writer with the elements of theme,
viewpoint, structure, voice and the fine art of titillation.

Sunday Salon Discussion Series: Community Arts in the Academy

The Green Street Arts Center of Wesleyan University invites
you to a lecture and discussion that addresses very pertinent issues regarding
community arts and liberal arts institutions. As part of the Green Street
Sunday Salon Discussion Series, Wesleyan's Vice President for Diversity and
Strategic Partnerships, Sonia Mañjon, will discuss the relationship between
higher education and art in the community in her lecture Community Arts in the Academy:
An Emerging Field in Liberal Arts Education. We hope you will join
us for this event and help us to spread the word to colleagues and friends who
may also be interested in this event.

Sunday Salon Discussion Series

Embrace your inquiring mind at this monthly meeting for
creative expression and curious individuals. In the 18th century, a
"salon" was a social gathering of people who discussed their ideas
and observations. Chemistry professor David Beveridge hosts Green Street's salon, which introduces the work of Wesleyan faculty. Salons usually include an
informal talk or demonstration and plenty of time for questions and
socializing. We provide the refreshments.


Community Arts in the Academy: An Emerging Field in Liberal Arts Education
Sunday, February 8, 2–4pm
$8 admission ($5 members, seniors, students)

An exploration of how liberal arts institutions are
integrating community engagement practices with art applications to produce
both curricular and co-curricular content. Dr. Mañjon developed the first BFA
program in Community Arts at California College of the Arts and has worked with
both art and liberal art institutions and national organizations including
Imagining America to research document and speak about the power of art in
engaging community collaborations and social justice practices. She most
recently edited a compilation of articles and essays about community art
practices entitled: Crafting a Vision for Art, Equity and Civic Engagement: Convening
the Community Arts Field in Higher Education.

For more information or to reserve your seats today, call
(860) 685-7871. Green Street Arts Center is located in the heart of
Middletown’s North End at 51 Green Street. Visit Green Street's
website at www.greenstreetartscenter.org for more to come this winter and spring!